Managing a Creative Life in a Chaotic World

When You Have Nothing To Say, Should You Write Anyway?

Faced with the blank page, we all feel a shiver in our boots from time to time. The decision is whether to work through it or let silence be the order of the day. But there are two reasons to write. One is to communicate, but that implies you have something worth spouting. The other reason to write is to perfect your craft. Both are sufficient reasons to, as Jane Yolen puts it, “put your butt in the chair.” What we have to remember is that it is the practice that is important and not our words. Setting a goal helps. Maybe the goal is to simply write one brilliant sentence, one to make you proud. Maybe you’re up to the challenge of an entire paragraph or, heaven forbid, a whole page! That kind of committment is the difference between writing as hobby and writing as profession. When it comes to craft, silence is never golden.

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The best advice I ever got was ‘put you but in the chair and write’. I have never had writer’s block since, crappy material yes, but at the editing part I was inspired for a different scene by just one good sentence that I had written in the crappy stuff(jewel in the rough?)
Still writing no matter what is a joy for us like no other, and the blank page that can seem intimidating also has the power to thrill as when you were a kid with a new box of crayons, the possibilities! Creation!
Good Luck!